The trials of the Manson family became a kind of public theater which a number of current and future filmmakers found themselves caught up in. Joan Didion bought a dress for a Manson girl to wear to court, Dennis Hopper visited Manson in prison, and a young John Waters attended the trial and took inspiration for his legendary film, Pink Flamingos.

Show Notes:

Welcome to the final episode of our ongoing series, Charles Manson's Hollywood. As we speak, we are working on putting together our next, non-murdery season. It will begin some time in September -- follow us on Twitter for updates.

This episode featured contributions from Moises Chullian, who played Richard Nixon; and, of course Nate DiMeo, concluding his run as Charles Manson. Special thanks to all of our guests on this series, including Wiley Wiggins, Max Linsky, TS Faull, Sam Zimmerman, Noah Segan and Ram Bergman.

After the murders, Manson moved his family to the depths of the California desert. There, even before they were finally apprehended by the law, their utopia started to fall apart. Hollywood was in the process of being changed by Dennis Hopper's Easy Rider, a film shot partially in the same desert where Manson was now hiding. The Family and their flight to Death Valley -- and the impossible dream of the 60s revolution in general -- was soon thereafter unwittingly reflected in Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni's attempt to make a Hollywood studio film, Zabriskie Point, starring Hopper's future wife.

Show Notes:

Special thanks to this week's special guests: Nate DiMeo reprised his role as Charles Manson, and we were lucky to have Max Linsky, of Longform.org and the Longform Podcast, playing Mel Lyman.

The base list of sources for this series can be found here. The second half of this episode, about Mel Lyman and Zabriskie Point, is indebted to a whole different set of sources:

This episode is titled after the Sonic Youth song "Death Valley '69," which, as Kim Gordon explains in her memoir Girl in a Band, was partially inspired by the Manson family. I included a few other Sonic Youth songs just for their vibe; Gordon tells stories about many of them in her book. I particularly like the story about how "Halloween" was inspired by Henry Rollins.

The final song in this episode before the end credits was composed and submitted by YMRT listener Blake Godfrey. If you'd like to submit your music for consideration for use in a future episode, the best way to do that is by sending Karina a link to your stuff on Soundcloud or whatever streaming thing you prefer.

While trying to launch her own acting career, Tate fell in love with, and eventually married, Roman Polanski, the hotshot Polish filmmaker who had his first massive American hit in the summer of 1968, Rosemary’s Baby. Tate and Polanski were often described as Hollywood’s “it” couple during their brief marriage, but behind the scenes their relationship was complicated by his infidelities, and her struggles to prove herself as an actress in films like Valley of the Dolls.

In the first of two episodes about the Manson Family’s most famous victim, we’ll trace actress Sharon Tate’s early years, her romance with celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring, and the on-set affair that changed the course of Tate’s life and career. Plus: sex, drugs, haunted houses, Warren Beatty and Steve McQueen.

In the immediate aftermath of the Manson murders, much misinformation, rumor and slander about the victims was published as fact, so it can be difficult to sort out truth from fiction even today -- particularly when it comes to things like sexual habits and drug consumption. My primary sources for this chapter were Roman Polanski's autobiography Roman by Polanski;Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders by Greg King; and My Husband, My Friend by Neile Adams McQueen. This 2002 story on Jay Sebring from the New York Times Magazine is a little odd, but it was useful for me to understand Sebring's accomplishments as a hairdresser. The Warren Beatty/Shampoo stuff came from Peter Biskind's Star and Easy Riders, Raging Bulls -- books which cover the same territory in almost the same exact language at times.

Today we introduce a new special guest: Ram Bergman played Roman Polanski.

Charles Manson became convinced his best chance at rock stardom was impressing Terry Melcher, a record executive who had made stars out of The Byrds, and who was also the son of one of old Hollywood's most wholesome, carefree Establishment stars, Doris Day. Terry and his girlfriend, Candice Bergen, had long lived at 10050 Cielo Drive, and sublet the house to Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate months before the murders.

If there is a good Doris Day biography, other than her autobiography (which I have on order, but it hadn’t arrived by the time I had to make this episode), I couldn’t find it. I consulted two books,Considering Doris Day by Tom Santopietro and Doris Day: A Reluctant Star, both of which I found to have problems. Day deserves a serious book; I hope she someday gets one.

The other woman at the center of this episode, Candice Bergen, has written two autobiographies. I based a large portion of this episode on her first memoir, Knock Wood, published in 1984.

Terry Melcher’s early life as surf rocker/selling song titles to Bobby Darin/Recording The Byrds: “Somewhere in My Mind” by Apache Tomcat

Terry Melcher’s relationship with Candice Bergen/Bergen as celebutante, second-rate Julie Christie and bridge between Establishment jet set and hippies: Also “Somewhere in My Mind” by Apache Tomcat, but a different part of the song

Terry Melcher and Candice Bergen as rich hippies/Melcher’s first visit to Spahn Ranch/Melcher sleeping with Manson girl/Manson as chameleon: “If I Can’t Dance It’s Not My Revolution” by Quantum Jazz